And another thing I found interesting: this thing was
developed at a *Catholic* university. If the religious
groups are involved in the development of
technologies, that will certainly help allay the
possible "meddling with God's plans"-ish reactions
from that front.

---

"Blind 'to see' with artificial eye"

An "artificial eye" which would allow blind people to
see is due to be implanted in a patient within the
next few months.
The device taps directly into the optic nerve and
could restore some measure of sight to people whose
retinas have been damaged or destroyed.

Visual sensations beamed from a video camera are
created in the brain by the artificial eye, developed
by a team at the Catholic University of Louvain, in
Belgium, directly stimulating different parts of the
optic nerve.

Other implants being developed stimulate the ganglia
cells on the retina or the visual cortex of the brain
itself.

But the Louvain team, led by Claude Veraart, says
these other techniques require large number of
electrodes to create images which are recognisable.

His device uses a coil to wrap round the optic nerve
with only four points of electrical contact.

Stimulated

A video camera, positioned externally, transmits via a
radio transmitter and microchip to an implant behind
the ear. This is connected to the electrodes on the
optic nerve.

Different parts of the optic nerve are stimulated by
altering the signals, similar to the way in which the
electron guns in TVs are aimed at different parts of
the screen.

Veraart and his colleagues have spent the past two
years experimenting with a volunteer who has the
electrode implanted, with wires leading out of her
body to the signal processor.

By asking her to point in response to various stimuli,
Veraart and his colleague Charles Trullemans have been
able to map camera pixels onto the corresponding parts
of her visual field.

This was possible, said Veraart in New Scientist
magazine, because the subject was once sighted and
knows what it means to "look at" something.

The researchers hope the device will at least allow
blind people to avoid obstacles, though more tests are
necessary before the device is implanted.

Most critical is the time it takes to realise they are
approaching an object.

"If it takes her 30 seconds to recognise an obstacle
it will be of little use," said Veraart. But if the
reaction time is fast, the team plan to implant at
least three more patients, starting in August.

Rebecca Griffith, health promotion officer for the
Royal National Institute for the Blind, in the UK,
welcomed the advance but sounded a word of caution.

"It is four months to the testing phase, not four
months to public availability," she said.